A founding member of the Naumburg Award winning Lydian Quartet, with whom she played for over 20 years, Rhonda Rider is now a member of the celebrated piano trio Triple Helix. Ms. Rider’s chamber music and solo recordings have been nominated for Grammy Awards and cited as Critic’s Choice in both the New York Times and Boston Globe.

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Addie Camsuzou is a composer and violinist from the central coast of California. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in music theory/composition from Sacramento State University, where she studied composition with Dr. Stephen Blumberg, and violin with Ian Swensen and Anna Presler. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in music composition.

Samuel Clark-McHale (b. 1992) is an American composer currently residing in Davis, CA. His works have been performed by, among others, Ensemble Signal, Quartetto Indaco, and the Illinois Modern Ensemble at venues and festivals including June in Buffalo and the highSCORE New Music Festival. His piece metallic cocaine bebop for Pierrot ensemble was a 2015 ASCAP Morton Gould Award Finalist.

Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Aida Shirazi is a Ph.D. student in composition and works with Pablo Ortiz. Shirazi’s music is described as “well-made” and “affecting” by The New Yorker.

She holds her B.A. in classical piano from Tehran University of Art (Iran), and her B.M. in music composition and theory from Bilkent University (Turkey). She studied santoor (traditional Iranian dulcimer) with Parissa Khosravi Samani.

A Sacramento native, Ryan Suleiman was born to Lebanese and American parents. His music aims to explore new worlds both sonically and expressively, incorporating “impressionistic textures and large melodic gestures” (SF Classical Voice), resonant sonorities, and lively rhythms. Ryan is deeply inspired by the wonder of natural world and the tremendous beauty and complexity of everyday life.

Sarah Wald was born in Chicago. She attended Columbia University in the City of New York for her bachelor’s degree in music with a focus in composition. While at Columbia, Sarah studied composition with Tristan Murail and Arthur Kampela, as well as with Robert Lombardo in Chicago. She also studied flute with Sue Ann Kahn. Sarah then studied with Conrad Susa and David Garner at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for her master’s degree in composition. For her master’s thesis, she composed and produced Elegy for a Lady: a Music Drama in One Act.